Bell Asset Management Ltd Has $13.61 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Bell Asset Management Ltd trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,440 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,137 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.0% of Bell Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Bell Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,610,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after buying an additional 682,768 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,184,163,000 after buying an additional 400,927 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,977,361,000 after buying an additional 1,255,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $810.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $915.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $837.00 to $802.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $819.43.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $1,590,690.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at $5,962,956.64. This represents a 21.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total value of $429,501.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,570,306. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,959 shares of company stock valued at $26,671,107. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $673.42 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The company has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $673.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $706.04.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.03 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.28%.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.